While Bai Jingfei was getting caught up with her minor victories, heavenly doctor Ming was getting ready to scam the life out of the poor bandits.
He walked toward Zou Deming slowly, placing his walking stick firmly on the ground before each and every step he took. It was as if he was trying to drive the bandits mad with his slow walking.
Zou Deming took his large and hairy, bear-like hand and slapped it onto the back of Wonky Teeth, pushing him forward to help heavenly doctor Ming reach them quicker. He was treating him like a sacrificial lamb.
Heavenly doctor Ming sent them a strict look.
"So you finally decided to help this old man." he said, pressing his weight onto Wonky Teeth's arm that he had stretched out.
While heavenly doctor Ming was extremely short and not very heavy, if he were to force all his weight on you, you would feel pain too.
Poor Wonky Teeth let out a little groan.
He turned back to Bear-man hybrid bandit boss to plead for mercy but caught the glint in his eyes. If he tried to wiggle out of his current situation he would definitely have to deal with more than a small old man's weight.
Wonky Teeth had the urge to pull heavenly doctor Ming's beard to check if the suspicious thing was real but refrained from doing so. Instead he leaned into heavenly doctor Ming's face and took a closer look at the offending beard.
It was real.
He could see the hairs emerging from heavenly doctor Ming's chin, and he had no choice but to give up his suspicions and admit that the pair of short and shady looking "priests" were probably not pretending.
At least from their auras it was obvious they were rich and noble.
Bai Jingfei giggled as she walked behind her teacher and Wonky Teeth, albeit at a considerable distance away. She was enjoying herself quite a bit.
Usually during her escapades, she was the focus of attention. While she did have to bluff her way out of a situation, heavenly doctor Ming was doing all the work for her.
They were quite literally in the middle of nowhere. The path was a muddy road and the only thing one could see for miles was the dense foliage and the blue sky.
Bai Jingfei liked the atmosphere and mentally made a note to come back somewhere around here for a picnic. The setting was perfect to have small tea time snacks and some cut up fruit, on a carpet on the grass.
Of course she couldn't do that while heavenly doctor Ming was engaging with the thugs. She'd have to wait till they got back.
Looking up at the sky, she saw signs of rain.
A bunch of grey clouds were scattered over the otherwise clear sky. The clouds were spreading rapidly over the sky and Bai Jingfei could tell exactly what sort of clouds they were.
Cumulonimbus clouds.
There was going to be some heavy rain very soon. Maybe even some flooding. Luckily they lived on a mountain and weren't at risk of facing any flooding.
Bai Jingfei remembered her rain calling fiasco and felt her ears turn red. If the flooding was to be severe there would be a good chance she would be blamed for it. Directly or indirectly she was the one who "called" the rain.
Bai Jingfei ran over to heavenly doctor Ming with tiny little steps, almost like a penguin. She bent forward to heavenly doctor Ming's ear and whispered.
"It's going to rain, teacher. We should head back."
Heavenly doctor Ming shook his head. He had already done so much drama. What was the point of all that work if they were going to abandon it and go home…
Bai Jingfei understood his sentiments but was not going to be a drenched cave creature. She was still okay with wasting time in the middle of the forest but getting wet in the rain was a big no no.
She leaned forward again, "Let's at least go somewhere with covering…"
While Bai Jingfei had gotten much healthier, there was still a high chance of her falling ill if she were to get soaked. She wanted to avoid that if possible.
"The spirit on your shoulder-" began heavenly doctor Ming causing the crowd to hush itself slowly, "It's bloodthirsty. How was it that the bear died?"
Zou Deming instantly began sweating at the mention of the bear. He hadn't actually killed it but he had led it to its death, luring it to the edge of a cliff after being scratched by it.
If he took a second to think about it he would realize he had no evidence of the bear dying except it falling off of a cliff. Well the cliff wasn't all that high. Just enough for the bear to break its arm if unlucky.
And that was precisely what had happened.
"I lured it off a cliff and it fell to its death, priest…" he said almost whining, "What do I do? Is that the reason why my shoulders have been feeling heavy lately?"
The bandit mob looked around in surprise. Their boss had told them that he had fought the bear and then won. They had treated the scar like a trophy of winning a war but it was just a symbol of his cowardice.
"The bear certainly wants revenge for its death." whispered heavenly doctor Ming.
A certain bear on the mountains sneezed as someone remembered it yet again.
"It will bring you great disaster, remember that."
Zou Deming shuddered and slouched a little, considering the bear and remembering the traumatic experience of the attack. His forehead was now dripping with sweat and coupled with his hairy appearance he looked like a dog that had heard fireworks.
He had initially tried to show off his scratch and follow it up with a dialogue like "After I skinned the bear, I ate it." but he ended up revealing that he hadn't really killed it.
That was two points to team FeiFei, zero to team ugly bandit.